Gold Coast front man Tom Lynch says his team has quickly shifted its focus to round five opponent, Melbourne, after a disappointing 99-point loss to Hawthorn on Saturday night.

After a very competitive first half, the star power of the Hawks shone through after the long break, as the reigning premiers reminded competition rivals exactly why they are marked flag favourites for the second consecutive season. 

While clearly frustrated with the uncharacteristic hammering, Lynch said the GC SUNS couldn’t afford to dwell on what was their biggest loss in almost two years.

Gold Coast has an exciting seven-week period ahead, and the vice-captain believes the SUNS can set up a maiden finals berth with a successful period of football.

“We haven’t sat down and said ‘we want to win this many’ but we would definitely like to win four of the next six and give ourselves a chance to play finals,” Lynch told The Gold Coast Bulletin.

“Every game is pretty crucial, but we play a few up here that are definitely winnable games for us.”

The SUNS face Melbourne, Greater Western Sydney, North Melbourne, St. Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Adelaide in their next six games.

While the team hasn’t put a win-loss figure on the coming rounds, Lynch said a block of consistent performances would give the team a better chance of avoiding playing catch-up in the second half of the season.

 “Every season it’s pretty important to get wins on the board early and set yourself up rather than worrying about winning eight of the last 10 or something like that.”